


Garden at Twilight

by j_gabrielle



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (TV)
Genre: A/B/O, Domestic, Established Relationship, M/M, Mpreg, Original Characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 14:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4483193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange smiles, shifting his body to accommodate for the body next him. "Are you the only one who has slithered out of bed or do I have to prepare myself for the onslaught of the rest of my brood?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garden at Twilight

The wind is a blessed relief on his skin, heated as it were from the late summer heat and the unbearableness of his current physical state. Not even his sitting in on their garden bench made any difference in his discomfort.

Strange groans, fanning himself. Night creatures sing in their garden under the twilight sky. On the other side of the wall, all of London are alive in their receiving of the end of another day.

"Mummy!" 

A little body climbs onto the chair, squeezing into the space next to him. Strange opens his eyes blearily, smiling despite the knee wedged against his hip. "What is it Jeremy?" He asks, reaching out to envelope the boy in a half embrace.

"Mummy, it's too warm. I cannot sleep." His son leans against him, tilting his head up when Strange presses kisses to his brow. "Mummy..."

Strange smiles, shifting his body to accommodate for the body next him. "Are you the only one who has slithered out of bed or do I have to prepare myself for the onslaught of the rest of my brood?"

Jeremy wriggles, sitting up. "Charles is still asleep in his cot. Lettie is in the library with your books again, I think she's trying to make it rain."

"Make it rain?" Strange laughs, picturing the concentration on his daughter's face that so eerily mirror his own as it has been often said. "Has she been spending time with Mr. Norrell again?"

The boy shakes his head. In the dying light, the red of Jeremy's hair is like fire.

"Because the heat bothers you so."

Strange hums, stroking his fingers through his son's hair. "I can't deny that it does." He says. "But I will endure, and I will survive." With his other hand he brings Jeremy's hand to the swell of his stomach. 

"How much longer before it will be here?"

"I do not know." He smiles. "Would you rather it be a boy or a girl?"

Jeremy considers the question before he wraps his arms around Strange's shoulders, tucking his little face into the curve of his mother's shoulder. "I would not mind either. I just want..."

"What do you want?" 

"For you and Papa to be happy again." Jeremy says in an almost whisper. "You both have been arguing."

Strange feels himself smile wryly. "My apologies. I did not know we would be noticed."

"Do you hate him?" Jeremy asks. "That you are his Omega?"

Strange cups his child's cheek, lifting his face to look him in the eye. "I could never hate something that has brought me so much love, happiness and comfort. No. No, my dear boy. I do not hate your father. I do not hate being his Omega. And," He pulls his boy close to lay his head against his breast. "I love you. I love you and your siblings very much so."

"Jeremy." 

They both pull apart at the voice from the door, and Strange finds himself suddenly a great deal cooler than before. Grant opens his arms to catch Jeremy, laughing as he swings the boy around. Letting the boy cling to him, he turns to Strange. "Hello Merlin."

Turning back to their child, he whispers something in his ear. The boy soon wriggles out of his arms, bolting into the interior of their house.

Strange watches unblinkingly as Grant walks towards him. "Where is your uniform?"

"In our room." Grant says easily, taking the place next on the bench. Pulling him into his arms, he tilts his face, smiling as their lips meet in a kiss. "How are you today?"

"Alright. Could be better." Strange sighs, leaning into the touch of Grant's hand playing at the curls of his nape. "Can't wait for this blasted heat to pass."

Grant moves his hand to press at the crux of his stomach. "I would say I am sorry for this, but we both know that that would be a lie."

Strange throws his back, laughing. "Yes, it would be, wouldn't it?" He lays his head on Grant's shoulder, melting into the line of the body next to him. "What did you say to Jeremy?"

"I told him to fetch his sister and brother, that we are going to have supper out here in the garden."

"That sounds like a splendid idea." 

Grant chuckles. A moment late, Strange pulls away to push his curls off his brow.

"A lifetime ago I would have never thought you capable of such tenderness. Fatherhood suits you." Strange says, untangling himself from his husband. Taking their hands together, he presses a kiss to Grant's knuckles. "Jeremy heard us. When we were... Talking. About the baby."

"Ah."

"Yes. Ah." He says. "He thought we were to be divorced."

Grant blinks. "Yes. I heard."

Strange grins, eyes narrowed. "Yes, I know. Eavesdropping. Such a bad habit you have yet to kick."

"Bread and butter of my trade." Grant kisses his cheek. "Have you told him?"

"That he'll soon be the eldest of five instead of four? No, I have not."

Grant opens his mouth to reply when the barrelling of two of their children towards them cuts him off. 

 _Later_. Strange's eyes say as Jeremy lifts a sleeping Charles into the arms of his father and propping Lettie up on his lap after he has wriggled into place on the bench. 

"Now, shall I tell you a story?" Grant says, Charles cradled in his arms.

The children settle in. Strange smiles, gently stroking his bloated stomach as the deep voice of his husband carry through the air. The bothers of the evening now an age away.

**Author's Note:**

> I really should be studying for my paper in twelve hours. But instead. This.
> 
> [Come talk to me](http://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/ask)


End file.
